If you’re a golfer, current or past, you know that on some Par 3 holes you can wind up with a score on your card that sure isn’t a three. Unless you are a scratch golfer of course. Not me. Far from one. I was a proud mostly 38ish handicapped player. My game was handicapped, not me. Though some may think so if they saw my scorecard. Anyway, I pretty much looked forward to the par 3 holes. It gave me a chance to feel like par on a hole was within my reach and on the rare occasion, I got the chance to score a birdie on more than one.

Nice memories. Now back to the topic.

Having spent most of my golfing life on Gulf Coast courses (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida), I have seen a lot of things that got in the way of my advancement to the green. Often, these things were not to be concerned about. They were enjoyable to see. But then again, sometimes they did cause some degree of “oh sh@*”. You know, things you really don’t want to encounter. Like gators.

More often than not, these watchers of the action would be idling in the waters near the fairway staring at you. I presume to make sure you didn’t give your ball a little nudge out of the rough or because they were mentally preparing you for a new recipe. A few times, as we’ve seen on television, these golf gators would be casually strolling across the fairway making sure you knew who the real Marshall was on the course. One time however, it appeared that one had decided to take a darn nap! Great.

I will admit, in this painting, I did move the gator closer to the green than what actually happened. That’s the thing about us artists, we often like to paint the idea of something. Makes things so much more interesting.

For me, bogeys on holes were most welcome. Double bogeys were ok too. Gators near the green? Not ok. We made a lot of noise and eventually the party crasher slunk back into the water. Don’t remember what I scored on that hole and after all these years not sure which course in Louisiana… just somewhere near New Orleans.

If you are heading to a course anytime soon, I hope you enjoy your day. Stay away from bogeys in the form of gators and the most dreaded thing of all…. stay away from snowmen. (wink, wink).